


Bold or Unlucky

by Seulkie



Series: To Arms, Boys! [3]
Category: 20th century - Fandom, History - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: 20th Century, Gen, History, Original Character(s), World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-25 20:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10771518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seulkie/pseuds/Seulkie
Summary: November 1914 - Belgium





	1. Bold

The day was already warm for November, but being up in a barn loft made it even more pleasant. A soldier with a thick beard had sprawled himself out on a pile of hay. He was smoking a pipe and musing, 

“I think if I met the Kaiser, I would start by buying him a drink for giving me what will probably be the most respectable job I will ever have,” Laughter filled the small room, “Then I would take him out into an alley and kick his testicles straight up into his fucking throat.”

“I wouldn’t buy him a drink of any kind.” Said another man quickly, “I would go straight for the kicking. Nothing good for the King of the Fritz.”

Remi chuckled at both of them, but he knew the second soldier spoke from a place of personal loss. He was thinking about it, hard enough that Remi was having difficulty ignoring it. 

“Ok, well how about the first person who gets to him can decide how to handle him?” Remi said loudly. One of the men gave him a look, but it had significantly dulled the other soldier’s thoughts about his dying friend, so Remi shrugged it off.

Just as the two soldiers were about to start arguing amongst each other, a loud creak came from the staircase leading up to the loft. All five soldiers turned to look towards the entrance in the floor where an officer emerged. The men jumped out of the hay and stood at attention, but were quickly dismissed.

“Moineau?” The officer asked, his voice echoing around the loft. 

Remi’s heart leapt into his throat as he stepped forward and responded, “Yes, sir?”

“Come with me for a moment.” The other man said before turning to walk back down the stairs.

Remi glanced at his friends and shrugged, and they all shrugged back at him in return. Silently, he followed the officer down the spiral staircase and out the barn door. The sun was blinding at first, and Remi blinked several times before his eyes finally adjusted. The field where the army was at rest shone with greens and golds in the afternoon light, and the leaves of a few successful sugar beet plants were swaying in the breeze, still waiting to be harvested.

“Do you think you could be a sniper?” The officer asked suddenly, pulling Remi’s attention away from the scenery.

“What?”

“I’ve heard you’re an excellent shot.” He continued. “Apparently, it’s like you know where the enemy is going to be before he is even there.”

Remi’s face grew hot, and he quickly looked towards the ground. “Yes, sir, I guess I am pretty good. Thank you, sir.” He said somewhat sheepishly.

Suddenly, the two of them were at an old tree. Near the base of the trunk sat a man writing in a small journal.

“Beaulieu!” The officer barked as they got closer. 

The man whipped his head around and scrambled to his feet, the journal falling to the ground in the process. Remi wondered if this officer enjoyed surprising his victims. 

“General Masson!” Beaulieu replied, his voice shrill with surprise.

“At ease.” General Masson said, placing his arms behind his back. “This is Remi Moineau. He is going to be Henri’s replacement. You’ll show him how it’s done when we go back up. He’ll learn quickly.”

Before any of them could say anything else, General Masson nodded and started off in another direction. Remi watched him leave, then scoffed as the other soldier picked up his journal. 

“How old are you?”

Remi glanced back at the man and cocked his head. “Excuse me?”

“I asked how old you are.”

“I’m 18.”

The man chuckled and crossed his arms. “You’re pretty young.”

“Well, how old are you?” Remi shot back.

The man paused for a moment before saying, “26.”

“You aren’t much older than me, then.”

“I’m a bit older than you.”

“It isn’t too significant.”

The man paused for another moment before smiling - somewhat sadly, Remi noted - and holding out his hand. “I’m Claude. Claude Beaulieu.”

Remi shook it and smiled back. “As the general said, I’m Remi Moineau.”

Claude nodded. “Good to meet you. So you’ve never been a sniper before, huh?”

“No, never,” Remi replied, scratching at the back of his head. “Hope you’re a good teacher.”

Claude chuckled. “I think you’ll be fine. Shooting is easy. It’s the other stuff that’s hard.” He pursed his lips slightly, and Remi caught flashes of mud, holes, boredom and fear. “But it’s a respectable position. And we don’t have to dig trenches as often.”

Remi liked the sound of that. There was little he hated more than digging trenches. 

“I think I’ll be able to handle it.” Remi said, which was almost true. He was pretty sure he would be able to handle it, anyways.


	2. Unlucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November 1914 - Belgium

A few days later, they went back up to the front. Remi was chatting and smoking with others in his company while the lorries ambled along the road, preparing themselves for the horrors the front will bring. Sometime, holes caused the lorries to shake and jump with quite some force, jostling the men around. The first time Remi rode in one of the them, he was almost thrown over the side when the car hit a particularly deep hole, but now he knew how to move with the shaking vehicle, and it hardly phased him anymore.

Once they arrived, Remi jumped out the back and looked around. He hadn’t seen Claude since they had been introduced under the tree, and he gripped his rifle in anticipation for what his new job would hold. The flashes of Claude’s thoughts had rattled him. Not because mud, boredom, and fear were new to him – he experienced plenty of that already being a regular foot soldier, but Claude’s memories seemed more intense. The feelings were deeper, and Remi had felt how vulnerable they were.

The company marched up the communication trench, this time in silence. The sound of shells had steadily increased during the journey, and now that the men had arrived at the front, it was more than just noise. Once in the trenches, they split off in various directions, following orders or just finding somewhere to pass the time until an attack. Remi sighed, wondering how he was ever going to find Claude. He didn’t even really remember what he looked like.

“Hey, Moineau.” A voice came from behind him.

Remi spun around and was face to face with Claude.

“Oh. Hello.” He responded. What were the chances Claude would show up at that moment? “I was just trying to find you.”

“You did a good job.” Claude said sarcastically, adjusting his pack. “C’mon, we’re stationed this way.”

Remi followed him down the trench, greeting those he knew and promising he would be back to play cards with them in a few hours. Once, he felt pity, but it wasn’t his own. Remi glanced at Claude, and realized he was thinking how little Remi knew about what was coming. Remi shivered. He hated it when he picked up other people’s feelings.

“So, what do we do, exactly?” Remi asked.

“Well, we go out into No Man’s Land, find a nice, deep shell hole, then shoot whatever head pops over the Fritz’s trenches for a couple of days.” Claude answered.

Remi stopped. “What?”

Claude turned around, crossing his arms. “I said, we go to No Man’s Land, camp out in a hole, and shoot at shit until the generals decide we can come back in for a rest.”

Remi’s eyes widened. A couple of days? He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He would certainly become overwhelmed. It was hard enough for him to control thoughts in the trenches, but out of them, so exposed? Madness would surely come quickly.

“I can’t do that.” He finally muttered.

Claude scoffed. “Well, it doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice. Masson doesn’t change his mind once he has decided someone is useful somewhere.”

Remi just shook his head.

“You know,” Claude said slowly, “if you don’t come out there with me, you will be charged with disobeying orders, which is a court martial offense.”

Remi’s heart dropped into his chest. His choices were now drastically limited – either go out into No Man’s Land risking death and insanity, or stay in the trenches and eventually face a firing squad. He hung his head, then shakily exhaled the breath he had been holding.

“Alright, I’m coming.” He said.

Claude nodded, turning on his heels and setting off again. “Hurry up. I want to get out there before it gets light.”

Eventually, they reached their destination. Claude glanced at Remi, then peaked up over the edge of the trench. The sun was just starting to rise, and the horizon glowed blue. He slowly scanned the fragmented earth, then pushed himself over the edge and crawled on his belly under the barbed wire. Remi did the same, but caught his knee on one of the spikes. It tore the fabric of his pants, leaving a fine cut which caused Remi to hiss. Nevertheless, he followed Claude until they were out of the entanglement.

They slinked through the shell holes, hiding in one for a few minutes before quickly darting into another. Occasional machine gun fired could be heard, but it wasn’t aimed at them. Finally, Claude settled on a hole with only a small amount of water at the bottom.

“Alright,” Claude said, placing his pack against the dirt, “one of us is the lookout, and the other one shoots. It isn’t terribly exciting, but occasionally a careless German pokes his head over the edge, and then we get him. Make sense?”

Remi had also set his pack down and was fiddling with his rifle. “Sure, sounds easy.” He replied, starting to rub off the mud covering his pants.

“Don’t let yourself get comfortable, the Germans are over their looking out for us, and they have scopes. Also, you might want to keep that mud. Our red pants are pretty easy to see out here.”

Remi stopped brushing and looked out across the field. It was much lighter out now, and the sky was painted with all kinds of colours. He imagined this must have once been a grove, as there were still charred tree trunks which looked like burnt out matches clinging to the earth. Then, a shell whistled across the sky and landed with a great crash not too far away. Remi ducked and covered his head as the dirt flew over him. The serenity was gone.

“Shells rarely land in the same place twice.” Claude said, a slight air of amusement in his voice. He had barely reacted to the shell, just covered his eyes. “Trust me, it’s the Krauts over there with the guns we have to worry about, not the shells.”

“Right” Remi replied shakily. He could tell his mental barrier was slipping. There were voices trying to get in, and with the added exposure, Remi found himself having to put much more effort into blocking them out. He was already starting to get a headache.

“You look sick.”

“I’m fine. Just don’t talk so loud.”

Claude blinked. “I’m not…” He started, but just shook his head and stared back out over No Man’s Land.

Time passed slowly, and the flashes of Claude’s memories he had seen a few days ago were starting to make sense. His headache grew worse, but instead of immediately ignoring the German thoughts like usual, he used them to point out the area’s Claude should watch. After Remi told Claude where to shoot, more often than not a spiked helmet popped up over the edge.

“No wonder Masson wanted you out here!” Claude said excitedly. “This is the best I have ever done! How do you do it?”

Remi just shrugged. He was becoming more restless; the longer he kept the German thoughts in his head, the harder it was for him to expel them when he was done. He was also now picking up Claude’s thoughts and some from his comrades in the trenches. It was getting harder to tell which ones were his own.

“Seriously, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Claude insisted. “Do you want to shoot for a while?”

Remi didn’t answer. He could barely hear Claude, and he could hardly think for himself. He had sunk down into the shell hole so that his feet were now deep in the water.

“Moineau?”

Remi squeezed his eyes shut, placing his hands over his ears. It didn’t help.

“Hey Moineau, get it together, would you?”

That’s when Remi snapped. The thoughts were too loud, the different languages too much, and he was now truly unable to figure out which were his and which weren’t. He yanked his feet out of the water and brought his knees to his chest, pressing his forehead into them. A second later he jerked his head up and stared at Claude desperately.

‘ _I have to get out! I have to get these voices out!_ ’

Claude’s eyes widened and he suddenly became white as a sheet. “What—“

He couldn’t finish before Remi dug his hands in the earth, taking fistfuls and throwing it out over the edge of the hole.

‘ _LET ME OUT!_ ’

The next thing Remi knew, he was being pushed into the mud. His face was buried, and he swallowed a mouthful of earth while struggling to breath. His head was soon freed, and he jerked it up, spitting out the dirt and inhaling deeply. He still couldn’t move his body, and that’s when he realized Claude was laying on top of him. A second later, shots were heard around them, dirt flying as bullets struck the ground. 

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” He whispered harshly in Remi’s ear, “but if you don’t calm down, we are both going to get killed!”

Remi struggled underneath him, still unable to block out the thoughts.

‘ _Stop it! Stop moving! Now!_ ’

Remi froze. This thought was extremely clear, and had managed to overpower all the other ones.

‘ _Can you hear me?_ ’

Remi realized it was Claude’s voice, but it sounded different than when he eavesdropped on him or accidently picked up a few stray thoughts.

‘ _Yes. Yes._ ’ Remi thought. He hadn’t heard thought’s like this since he had been with his family, who often talked to him through telepathic channels.

‘ _What is happening? Explain._ ’

Remi paused. He had been warned throughout his childhood not to let other people know about his ability, but now he was being held down and forced to talk about it, all because he had lost control.

‘ _I’m able to read people’s thoughts, and sometimes they can read mine, if I want them too. Or if I can’t keep control over them._ ’ He stopped again, sighing with relief as his own thoughts became more clear to him. ‘ _That’s why I know where the Germans are before anyone else. I’m not very good at blocking all of them out yet, though – the war has made me realise that. They were too overwhelming this time. I’m sorry._ ’

Remi had relaxed significantly since Claude had pinned him down, and was starting to gain control over his thoughts again. Slowly, he was able to target thoughts he didn’t want and cut them off.

‘ _You’re going to explain this to me once we are back in the trenches, but for now, I just need you to stay calm and not draw any more attention to us. I am not about to lose another partner so soon. Understand?_ ’

Nodding, Remi freed his arm from Claude and dipped his hand in the water, wiping his face with the cool liquid. The next thing he knew there was a pencil between his fingers.

‘ _Do you have any paper?_ ’ Claude asked, still speaking to Remi through telepathy. 

‘ _No._ ’ He replied. ‘ _I don’t want to write a letter, though._ ’

Claude released Remi entirely and crawled over to his pack.

‘ _You aren’t going to write a letter. You’re going to draw._ ’

Remi sat up. He had drawn a couple of times since coming up to the front, but never in these kinds of circumstances

‘ _I don’t really think I can draw right now._ ’

Claude handed him a small notebook anyways.

‘ _Well you’re going to. Start by drawing No Man’s Land. That’s easy._ ’

Gripping the pencil in one hand and the notebook in the other, Remi gazed out over the shattered field and started scribbling. At first, he didn’t care much about adding details, just drew a horizon and some of the tree trunks. However, he noticed that the more focus he put on the paper, the less powerful the thoughts around him were. He began to include the details of the area – the German wire, the unburied dead, even Claude in their shell hole. Soon enough Remi was completely in control again.

“Don’t think I am totally on board with this,” Claude’s voice cut through the air suddenly, causing Remi to jump, “and you’re still going to explain everything to me once we are out of this damned hole, but for now I just need you to keep pointing out the Germans so we can all go home sooner. If it gets to be too much, for the love of God, just start drawing.”

Remi stared at him in amazement, unable to say anything.

Sighing, Claude added, “I’ll help you gain control over it. This power of yours might end up saving our lives.”

“Thank you.” Remi said, swallowing. Another German thought came to him, but this time he was prepared. He pointed to Claude’s right, “There is one over there.”

A few moments later, the crack of a rifle filled the air, and the thought stopped.


End file.
